Federica Ciccolella – författare

The starting point generally acknowledged for the revival of Greek studies in the West is 1397, when the Byzantine Manuel Chrysoloras began to teach Greek in Florence. With his Erotemata, Chrysoloras gave to Westerners a tool to learn Greek; the search for the ideal Greek textbook, however, continued even after the publication of the best Byzantine-humanist grammars. The four Greek Donati edited in this book—“Latinate” Greek grammars, based on the Latin schoolbook entitled Ianua or Donatus—belong to the many pedagogical experiments documented in manuscripts. They attest to a tradition of Greek studies that probably originated in Venice and/or Crete: a tradition certainly inferior to the Florentine scholarship in quality and circulation, but still important in the cultural history of the Renaissance.

When Greece Flew Across the Alps offers a reconstruction of the status of Greek studies in the vast territory lying between Spain and Russia and Austria and the Scandinavian Peninsula, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries. Although closely related to the revival of Greek studies in fifteenth-century Italy, European Hellenism acquired distinctive peculiarities due to the influence of the Reformation, the advent and spread of printing, and initiatives taken by individuals or institutions. By analyzing this important aspect of the reception of the Classics, this volume contributes to a better understanding of early modern European culture.  Contributors: Ovanes Akopyan, Johanna Akujärvi, Gianmario Cattaneo, Federica Ciccolella, Natasha Constantinidou, Iulian Mihai Damian, Christian Gastgeber, Tua Korhonen, Han Lamers, Marianne Pade, Inmaculada Pérez Martín, Luigi-Alberto Sanchi, and Raf Van Rooy.

The beginning of the Greek revival in the West is generally attributed to the teaching of the Byzantine scholar Manuel Chrysoloras in Florence between 1397 and 1400. Causes, aspects, and consequences of this important cultural phenomenon still need to be analyzed in depth. The essays collected in this volume examine the development of the study of Greek from the fifteenth to the early sixteenth century, reconstructing its spread and impact on early modern literatures, philosophy, and visual arts. An analysis of the methods and tools used to teach and learn Greek sheds light on the complex cultural relationships between Byzantium and the West and enlarges the traditional picture of the Greek revival in early modern Europe.Contributors are: Lilia Campana, Federica Ciccolella, Mariarosa Cortesi, Francesco G. Giannachi, Fevronia Nousia, Kalle Lundahl, Erika Nuti, Denis Robichaud, Antonio Rollo, Luigi Silvano, David Speranzi, and Paola Tomé.